i know this is the wrong section, feel free to move this

just wondering when you stopped bf? we did combined feeding for a while, then back to just bf. elijah has been weaning for two months and is on 3 meals a day and around 4 on demand bfs during the day, and still feeds quite a bit in the evening and once or twice at night...so i have no idea how i would convert that to formula!

i dont actually want to give up bf, but now that eli has two toothypegs and occasionally bites me (ouch!) i wondered when/how/why people gave up?

i am also going to be working, but only 2-3 hours at a time so that isn't really a problem...but at nearly 8 months am i stretching it out for me rather than him? im not keen on formula at all and i don't feel elijah's tummy likes it (constipation and trapped wind with a few different kinds) so im wondering if anyone carried on bf until their little one stopped needing it completely? i.e without using formula in between....

hmm any thoughts welcome

Hello! Much the same as you i went from combined feeding to bfing only, such a relief - no more faffing about with bottles! Milo at that age was still bfing a fair bit, I'd say around the same Elijah is now, but maybe with one less night feed..

I stopped at 14 months, the last time was the flight out to england, and he was just so excited by everything there that he forgot to "ask"! He was only down to one feed by then anyway, so it seemed quite natural to stop. I think i was giving him 3 bf's a day from 10/11 months onward ish, then down to one from a year ish, when I started giving him more cows milk, so he went from boob milk to cows milk straight away, and seemed to enjoy that!

As for the biting, I got gnawed on for about a month (so flipping painful!) then he just seemed to stop, which was a relief!

I think if you're both enjoying it there's no reason to feel you have to give up! Milo just seemed to lose interest naturally which helped me feel less guilty.

i fed leo, no formula what so ever till he was 13 months, he just kinda stopped by himself.
oliver i gave him 1 formula a day till the end (i think)just whilst i was at work, the rest of the time he was bf, he was 12 months when i stopped, but he didnt have any teeth by then. we were just both ready to stop by that point.
is there any other reason you want to stop apart from the biting? x

not really, i feel a bit like my hubby is still left out because if all else fails i can still stick elijah on a boob, but daddy can feed him proper food now at least so he isn't completely left out of the food side of things.

i worry a little bit about being at work and elijah 'needing' to bf but me not being there...i suppose he could have some proper food though and a drink of water if needs be?

i think maybe i am starting to wonder if i am being selfish because i finally enjoy bf and find it easy (took a long time! ) that i don't want to give it up easily, but i know a lot of people are looking to stop now that weaning is well underway (although is that to do with people going back to work maybe?)

the biting has improved with the second tooth tbh, i think he is getting used to them being there a bit?

tbh i think with lo's its kind out of sight out of mind when it comes to bf'ing(obvs as long as they have another food source ) im sure he wont 'need' bfing when your at work
if your enjoying it hun, then stick to it if you want to, it doesnt matter what others are doing. i think your right about the age/going back to work thing, i always said id stop when i went back to work...but still fed him for another 3 months, for no other reason than that i was still confortable doing it and still wanted to.wasnt quite ready to pass that stage yet
youv done so well to get this far, if you want to carry on then go for it xx

i'm hoping to stop completely when Arwyn is 7 months old but that's more cos i go back to work in about 8 weeks time i only feed her about 4 times a day now anyway and she was happily taking the formula til she vommed it all out!!

I stopped when Amelia was nearly 13 months. For us is was gradual, she just cut down her feeds naturally as she wanted more solids and then she was on 2 feeds a day from about 10 months (morning and last in the evening). Then when she was 11.5 months we swapped her morning feed for a cup of cows milk (I know it was 2 weeks early but by my thinking she was nearly 2 weeks late anyway so how much difference would it make!) and then she just swapped over to a cup of cows milk at night and never looked back. I was just lead by her. I always thought I'd stop at 6 months but Amelia would never take a bottle. She nipped a bit when her teeth 1st came through and then nothing until 12 months when she started again. That just told me she didn't need it any more as when I stopped feeding once nipped she wasn't bothered at all.

it was 8 months for ava, i had been combining for about a month but then overnight she refused my milk altogether, she gets 3 bottles of formula a day now, 7oz in the morning, 6 oz at 6pm and then 7oz about 11pm. it was harder for me than her, i felt rejected !

Since there have been tv shows about people bfing 8 year olds I think you have a while yet.

You could always express some for emergencies while you are at work or so dad can do a night feed.

You might also get away with giving Eli water instead of bfing at one of his night feeds to gradually eliminate it and get him going through the night without bf.

i stopped when evan was 7 months purely bcos he bit me and i always said after first bite id stop
from 6 months i was given evan formula in his bedtime bottle and bf in mornin and mid afternoon after he bit me i jst changed evvery bottle to formula luckily he didnt mind the change and was happy to be having formula
he tried to get to my boobs a few times but quick enough realised they were giving out no more milk

Giving up bf is purely when you are ready and as for converting it once they are on 3 meals a day they only need 2 bottles at around 7oz each I used cow and gate follow on milk from 7 months xx

hmmmm 8 years old is maybe a bit late for me and im really reluctant to go back to formula unless i really need to - i suppose an advantage of formula is it gives you a bit more structure, but the more i think about it, the more sure i am that i'm just not ready to give up bf!

i cut out a feed today, the first morning feed before brekkie, and elijah didn't even notice - in fact if he hadn't gotten overtired at lunchtime i don't think he would have wanted to bf until much later in the day, boo

time will tell it's nice to hear lots of other mummies carrying on for much longer though

I fed daniel for 14 months. once he could have cows milk at twelve months I started giving him some of that in a cup and his feeds went down, then i just stopped gradually and by mid 14 months he was just on cows milk.

I feel bad now cos I only managed to BF Harry for 4 months, but I had such a hard time with my c section scar it was a miracle I fed him past 2 weeks old xx

^ you shouldn't feel bad at all semo, 4 months is great, i nearly gave up a few times in the first couple of months, we had thrush for going on 2 months which was indescribably painful so i started to combine feed with a view to stopping bf, but just when i had decided enough was enough it suddenly got easier - i'm glad i did carry on now but i can absolutely understand why people stop earlier